A Christmas Story

Or two. Okay, maybe a few.

I may not love Christmas as a whole, but there are definitely parts of it that I do love. Christmas stories are definitely something I love about the holiday. So, I thought I'd highlight a few of my favorite Christmas stories. If you haven't read them, I obviously highly recommend you do! (They are not in any particular order, by the way.)

The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg:

This is a great story that details the anticipation of waiting for Santa to come. And it helps me remember to believe in the magic of Christmas.

The Tale of Three Trees by Angela Elwell Hunt:

Not necessarily a Christmas story, but there is a beautiful spirit in this story, and one of the trees is there when the Savior is born! It's one of the stories I like to read on Christmas Eve, and if I'm reading it out loud, I have a hard time finishing because I get so choked up.

The Littlest Angel by Charles Tazewell:

Along with Luke 2, this was the story that my mom read to us every Christmas Eve. In fact I think this is the copy we had, but I'm not sure, since the cover had been lost off of our copy way before I can remember. (Was this the one, Mom? The illustration looks right.) This is the sweetest story about a little boy angel who is trying to figure out what gift he can give to the baby Jesus. It's another one that chokes me up.

The Last Straw by Paula McDonald:

This story really hits home for me. As someone who got frustrated with my siblings, I can truly empathize with the boy in the story. The Last Straw is a great reminder of how we should celebrate the Christmas season. And yes, it too makes me cry.

Trouble at the Inn by Dina Donohue:
This is the only book I could find this story listed in, although I know I have it in a couple of Christmas compilations somewhere. It was originally published in an issue of Guideposts Magazine in 1966, but can be found in the Chicken Soup book pictured here, or the story is all over the Internet. This story touches my heart, because it makes me wonder what I would have done, had I lived at the time of Christ's birth. I hope that I would have had a heart like Wallace Purling's in the story. It too makes me cry. I cry more on Christmas Eve reading these stories than I do the whole rest of the year.


What are your favorite Christmas stories? I'm always looking for more good books!

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

I don't love Christmas.

Now, please put down the torches and pitchforks and read on.

Seriously. Put. Them. Down.

That's better. Now, there are a multitude of reasons that I don't love Christmas, and I'll admit some of them are directly related to the fact that I worked in retail for about eight years. And some of them are because of the season in which Christmas is embedded. And then there are others. But I don't want to focus on that.

I'm on a quest to get into the Christmas spirit, and I want to know why YOU like Christmas, or what helps you to get into the Christmas spirit.

Come on, blog readers. Your mission is to help me like Christmas (or at least like it more). So let's hear it.

What Was He Thinking?

In case some of you don't watch the news, listen to the radio, or read the newspaper, here's the story. Gary Coleman was at a bowling alley in Payson when a "fan" tried to take a picture of him with a camera phone. Gary got really upset, and ended up hitting the guy with his truck as he was trying to get out of the parking lot. I'm sure the guy was tormenting Gary a little, and I feel bad that Gary's life appears to be so ridiculously depressing, but it also sounds like he lost his temper. He's an angry elf. (First one to comment on which movie that is gets 50 points!) He ended up with reckless driving and disorderly conduct charges.

Now here is the reason for this post...
He showed up to court yesterday wearing this:

Just in case you missed it, he's wearing a cowboy hat, a flannel shirt, bibbed snow pants, and snow boots. I didn't realize that was on his list of court approved apparel. And it was 55 degrees yesterday. I didn't even wear a jacket! I'm not sure what he was going for with that look. WHAT WAS HE THINKING?

I'm Thankful--Day Three

Yesterday was a busy day, and I didn't get to post my "thankfuls", so I'm doing yesterday this morning. And as a special treat, there are pictures to go with some of the things on the list, so here goes:

1. Music. I love it. Enough said.
2. $5 Footlongs at Subway. Lunch and Dinner for five bucks. It's great!
3. Student written operas. (I'll explain below.)
4. Movie theater popcorn. Mmm...yummy.


5. Friends who are as crazy as me and will go to midnight movie releases.



So here is why yesterday was so busy. I worked all day, then I jetted home to change clothes, and ran to Heidi's school. Every year, the second grade classes at her school write their own operas and perform them for their parents. They come up with the characters, the plot, and all the lyrics without any teacher assistance. The opera lady writes the music, and the kids make their costumes. This was my third year at the opera, and as usual it was hilarious. It had a very Halloween theme with ghosts, witches, werewolves, bats, and vampires. The best part was the final line, which was something like "Let's rock and roll with hotdogs!"

After the opera, I made a quick stop at Subway (for a $5 footlong...dinner last night and lunch today) then I went home, ate my sandwich, and took a nap. At 11:00pm, my friend Randi and her husband Donny picked me up so we could meet up with our friend Tammy to see...Twilight! We had tickets to a 12:30am showing. Don't worry, loyal Twilight fans, no spoilers here! I'll just say that, as I predicted from the trailers, some of it was really cheesy, and there were parts we laughed at that weren't supposed to be funny. But overall, I enjoyed the movie. If you want to know more about the movie, you'll have to ask me, cuz I promised that I wouldn't give anything away for those who are going to see it on Saturday. And, sadly, we didn't see any freaks! That was our whole purpose in going to the midnight release. Sad. Oh well. It was fun anyway.

Thankful Again

More things to be grateful for today.

1. Friends who love me, even though I only see them a couple of times a year (if that!).
2. Laughter (this will probably be on my list every time because it's such an important part of my life).
3. Frozen Hot Chocolate on sale for 99 cents at Dairy Queen.
4. $1.90/gallon gas. I filled up my car from empty for $20. I don't remember the last time that happened!
5. Sunshine. Mr. Sun and I are really good friends and I am very excited to see him in November.

The Most Thankful Time Of The Year

Yea! It's almost Thanksgiving, which ranks right up there as one of my favorite holidays. Mostly for the mashed potatoes with turkey gravy. So one of my favorite foods. Oh, and the Hershey Chocolate Pie, and the rolls, and the stuffing, and leftover turkey sandwiches. But I digress.

I am jumping on the "thankful train", and I'm going to post about what I am thankful for. Since that would be a VERY long list, I'll just focus on five things that I'm thankful for today.

I am thankful for: (in completely random order)

1. My family. No matter what happens, they love me (and all 18 of my personalities). ;)
2. My friends. They are always willing to listen, and help me process whatever I need to.
3. Volleyball. It's just so fun, and I'm glad I got to play at least one game this year!
4. My testimony. It helps me to remember what's really important.
5. Laughter. It helps make life bearable.

What are you thankful for today?

Just When You Think It Won't Get Worse...

Someone steals your hubcap. Yep. That's what happened to me today. Rough day at work, lots of stress, a deadline glaring me in the face, can't work on that deadline because my work computer is broken, etc. So I find happiness in the fact that I can drop off some paperwork downtown for one of my clients that wasn't actually due until Monday. I'm in that office no more that five minutes, and I come out to see a hubcap missing from a car like mine. I look around for another little grey car, because I know that ghetto-looking car isn't mine. **gasp** I notice my belongings in that little ghetto car. I wonder why someone would steal my hubcap. I could understand it if the hubcap was made of, say, aluminum and they could cash it in. These are difficult financial times, after all. But it's just made of plastic! Still no answers.

So, if you see a little, grey, ghetto-looking car that is missing the rear, driver's side hubcap, please wave! It's probably me.

Funny...But Maybe Only To Me

Someone was giving me a hard time a few days ago, because I don't post very often, so here is a random post about funny things I've encountered lately.

I love my office-mate, Kristin. She is hilarious. She makes me laugh every day, she doesn't mind when I get in a bad mood and get really sarcastic, and she doesn't seem to mind that I talk to myself, my computer, my voicemail messages, my paperwork, people who aren't present, etc.

Here's some vital information for the next story. Several months ago, one of our foster care providers whom we all ADORED, passed away. For this story, we'll call her Jan Mortenson. Anyway, I had been making copies or something, and had been out of my office for several minutes. When I walked back in, Kristin said "I was just talking to Jan Mortenson." I kind of chuckled (half-amused, half-worried) and just as I was asking how she managed that, she started laughing and said "I mean Jan Watts". Now, maybe you had to be there to understand how truly funny that was, but it's not everyday that I walk into my office to be informed that someone has been talking to the dearly departed.

As part of my job, I review purchases that have been made both with company money, and client money. It always makes me hungry to read what food has been purchased, and sometimes the way items are listed on a receipt makes me laugh. You may have seen that e-mail where all of the words are jumbled up, but you can still tell what it says. It says something like, as long as the first and last letters of a word are in the correct place, you can still read a word, even if the rest of it is scrambled. It's true. Case in point--I was reviewing purchases a couple of years ago, and I kept seeing things like this:
Hman Turkey Dinner
Hman Chicken
Hman Pizza
I don't know how your mind reads those, but I was trying to figure out why WalMart was selling Human Turkey, Human Chicken, and Human Pizza. (In case you didn't figure it out, it was for Hungry Man dinners.)

Here is another thing that makes me laugh when I'm looking at receipts. When you buy milk at Sam's Club, it's listed as "Homo Milk". I am smart enough to know that this means homogenized milk, but I think they chose a really unfortunate way of abbreviating that word. In Canada, Vitamin D Milk is labeled as Homo Milk. Kristin's husband is from Canada, and he didn't even notice the humor in that until she pointed it out!

So, the next time you're bored, I recommend reading through your receipts to see what funny things you can come up with. Or, if that doesn't appeal, you could always check out this blog for some good laughs. My friend, Jami, recently showed me the cake wrecks blog, and it is darn funny. Enjoy!

Another Tag

Rules-
1. Answer the six "8" items
2. Let each person know they have been tagged

8 Favorite TV Shows
1. The Office
2. Chuck
3. Pushing Daisies
4. So You Think You Can Dance
5. Lost
6. Snapped
7. House Hunters
8. John & Kate plus 8

8 Things I did yesterday
1. Got up at 7:00am on a Saturday...Mandy, that should tell you just how much I love your family!
2. Played with my nieces
3. Went to Jimmy's to see the christmas decor
4. Went to check out the new D.I.
5. Went to Dad's birthday dinner
6. Ate cake and ice cream
7. Sang Happy Birthday to Dad
8. Played a few rounds of "Threes"

8 Things I look forward to
1. Twilight movie release
2. Thanksgiving
3. Christmas
4. Spring
5. Getting my hair done (two more weeks to go!)
6. Seeing my extended family again
7. Going to our family condo in Idaho
8. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince movie in July

8 Favorite Restaurants
1. Durango Grill
2. Pizza Factory
3. Outback Steakhouse
4. Hickory Kist
5. Doug & Emmy's (I could really go for a sweet roll!)
6. Javier's
7. Rooster's
8. Kneaders

8 Things on my wish list
1. A new car
2. Horses
3. A rich, attractive, perfect man
4. Sunshine
5. To live closer to my family
6. More time
7. More vacations
8. My own house

8 people I tag
1. Amelia
2. Lindsay
3. Mandy
4. Randi
5. Emily K.
6. Virginia
7. Lisa
8. Alisha

Happy Halloween and a Tag

Happy Halloween!!! I went to Heidi's school to help with the costume parade. I have a renewed appreciation for Elementary School teachers. I am exhausted, and I was only trying to corral the little sweeties for a couple of hours! Go Heidi, Cassity, Adrienne, etc!!! In case you were wondering, I dressed up as a cowgirl, but I forgot to get a picture. Disappointed? :)

Amelia tagged me, so here goes. (And this first part was painful. It reminds me that I am OLD! I still don't feel like I should remember things that happened twenty years ago.)

20 years ago. . .I was 12, and had just started the Young Women's program. I was in the seventh grade, and I did not love Jr. High. My favorite pastimes were: reading and babysitting. I think I was pretty boring twenty years ago. Hmm...I'm not sure that's changed much.

10 years ago. . .I was 22. I was on the Folk Dance Team at WSU, and I was having a GREAT time. I think my years on the dance team were my most fun years so far. I was working at a flower shop, and I loved that job. I made some really good friends there, that I still feel very close to, even though I don't see or talk to any of them often. On the down side, I broke up with the boy I thought I was going to marry, but on the up side, it encouraged me to move out on my own for the first time, and that was a great experience. (And I had some really awesome roomies!)

5 years ago. . .
I was 27. I had just moved about 70 miles away from my family (the furthest I had been before was 11 miles). I had moved in with my second cousin, and two complete strangers, one of whom quickly became one of my best friends ever! I had just started working as an office manager at a new company, and I LOVED it! Everyone was so nice, and again, I made some really great friends. I had also just started teaching CPR and First Aid for my company. Ugh...I was also a Family Home Evening "mom" and that was my second least favorite calling so far.

3 years ago. . .I was 29. I was living in the same house I'm in now, with two darling roommates. I had just started in a new position with my company, and I was loving it! I had just been called to the Fellowshipping Committee in my ward, and I hated it! It was definitely my least favorite calling so far. Or maybe FHE and Fellowshipping tie. Yep. I think they tie.

1 year ago. . .
I was working in the same job I'm in now, and I was living where I do now. I had just started attending a "family ward" and I was really enjoying getting to know new people (and I enjoyed not having a calling for a few months).

This year. . .
Same job, same house, same ward. I was called to teach the CTR 5 class in primary and I have loved it, most of the time. The kids are so darling, and I have seen them grow up so much in the last ten months. I can't believe that I'm going to lose them in a couple of months. I went on a couple of fun trips this year, to Montana and California.

Yesterday. . .
I went to work, came home and watched one of my favorite shows with Heidi (my roommate). Then I went to bed at 10:30pm, which was WONDERFUL! I can't remember the last time I went to bed that early.

Today. . .
Is Halloween. I went to work, went to help Heidi with her class, and then went back to work. Then I came home, gave out candy to the trick-or-treaters, and ate dinner that I overcooked because I was too busy handing out candy. Then I watched movies with Heidi, and now I am blogging.

Tomorrow. . .
I am going home to visit my family. I haven't seen some of them for almost a month, and I can't wait to see them again. We'll probably go shopping, play games, and eat yummy food.

Next Year. . .
I have no idea. That's one of the beautiful things about being single. I might still be in the same place doing the same thing, or I might decide to change it all up, get a new job, move, who knows? The possibilities are endless, since I don't have to worry about anyone else's opinion. Guess you'll have to stay tuned to find out what I'm doing next year. If you feel so inclined, I would happily accept ideas of what I could do next. ;)

I tag (only if you want to, of course) Mandy, Virginia, Cassity, and Arlene. (Heidi said I can't tag her with this one, so Arlene, my newly discovered blog stalker gets the tag!) Enjoy!!!

California Catch Up Part 3

Henrietta. Our best friend for the whole trip!

I had to include a picture of Henrietta, our GPS unit. She saved my sanity as I was trying to navigate around southern California, even if she was a little slow at calculating where we were a few times.

Day Four: Church and the Beach

Sunday started with a trip to a local LDS church for Sacrament Meeting. It was an AMAZING meeting! The talks were fantastic, and it was high council Sunday. After church we hurried back to the hotel to have lunch, then we went to the beach. I was really excited to go to the beach since I have only been once, when I was eight, and I wasn't able to play in the water much. When we got to Huntington Beach, it was a little cool (around 60 degrees), but I was determined to play in the water anyway, so Jade was brave with me and we went to play. The water was freezing!!! We had so much fun body surfing and jumping waves. I definitely love the beach and the ocean! We only stayed about an hour and a half since it was cold and windy outside, and after playing in the water for awhile, I couldn't move my hands very well anymore.

All of us (except Dayna, the photographer)

at Huntington Beach

Me and Jade playing in the freezing cold water

Day Six: San Diego and the Wild Animal Park

On Monday, Mom and I packed up and headed down to San Diego. We stopped at the Wild Animal Park, but we didn't stay too long, since we wanted to beat traffic, and mom's arm got stung by a bee, so she was in pain. It was fun to see the animals, but that park is really spread out! If I go again, I think I will take the Segway tour. It will save a lot of miles on my feet.

A big lion cub relaxing in the shade

Day Seven: Sea World and the San Diego Temple

On Tuesday, we went to Sea World. The weather was a little chilly again, and the morning fog hadn't burned off, so we decided not to ride any of the water rides. We did ride the "helicopter" simulator ride. It was pretty dumb. It showed that we were flying through spots that no helicopter could fit through, and it also showed us going underwater. Really? A helicopter flying under water? Okay, rant over. We had fun watching the pet show, and I always love watching the Shamu show.

Shamu

After Sea World, we hurried back to the hotel to change clothes before going to do a session at the San Diego Temple. It was so nice and that temple is SO beautiful.

The San Diego Temple after our session

Day Eight: Home Again

Sadly, Wednesday arrived way too soon, and it was time to pack up and head home. With one last stop at In-N-Out Burger, we were on our way. We were running a little behind schedule, but due to a security guard who either didn't really know what she was doing, or didn't care, we made it through security and to our gate with 15 minutes to spare. The lady sitting next to me on the plane was kind of weird, but really friendly which was okay, except that I was trying to watch TV. It sucked that when we boarded the plane in San Diego it was 80 degrees, and when we disembarked the plane it was 50 degrees. What a lovely welcome. Oh well. On the optimistic side, at least we didn't come back to snow! Hey, Mom...wanna go again?

California Catch Up Continued...

I'm back from card night (which was FABULOUS as always), so I decided to post a little more about my trip.

Day Three: California Adventure & Disneyland

On Friday we started out at California Adventure. Both Disneyland and California Adventure were decorated for Halloween. It was darling.

Cute Halloween decorations at California Adventure

Keith, Savannah, Jade, Jantz, me, and Mom in front of

the California Screamin' roller coaster

Most of the rides at California Adventure were broken, so that was disappointing. We did get to go on California Screamin'. Notice Jantzen's hat in the picture above. It's his favorite hat. When we went on the roller coaster, Dayna and I kept warning Jantz to take his hat off or at least turn it around backward. I even gave it one last ditch effort just as the ride was starting. Jantz just adjusted the hat lower on his head. For those of you who haven't seen/ridden the ride, you slowly "roll" out of the loading area, and then you stop. After a countdown, you are launched from zero to 55 mph in like a second, and you are totally up to speed before you start up the first hill. Just before we started up the first hill, I saw Jantzen's hat fly right off his head.

After we got off the ride, I wanted to go look in the water to see if we could see the hat. Imagine our surprise when we saw it here:

Jantzen's favorite hat is the dark spot in the middle of the picture

Yep. His hat was lying on the walkway on the far side of the track, which was across several feet of water. Jantz talked to several employees, filed a report about it, and Sunday night they called to tell him they had the hat. Jantz was so happy to get it back!

We also got to ride Tower of Terror. Mom is afraid of heights, but she rode it with us...way to be brave, Mom!!!

There we are in the back row. I LOVE this ride!

After that we decided to head back over to Disneyland, since all the other rides were broken. We were really tired after two days of walking all over the world, so after riding Indiana Jones again, we headed back to the hotel. But not before I got a picture of my favorite flower...

My favorite flower is the Hibiscus. Doesn't matter what color!

Day Four: Disneyland with Mom

On Saturday, Dayna's family decided to drive to San Diego and go to Sea World. Since Mom and I were planning to go to San Diego on Monday, we stayed in Anaheim and went to Disneyland for one last day. At Mom's request, we rode Splash Mountain again. Mom found it just as scary the second time, and I'm not sure if we'll be able to talk her into going on it again. I got even wetter this time...somehow I ended up in the very front seat both times!

Mom is probably going to kill me for posting

this picture, but it's so funny!

The Cheshire Cat...and me

We rode a few rides, including Mom's favorite (and definitely a favorite of mine), Indiana Jones. We also took a few pictures. Then we decided that we were really tired, it was really crowded, and we had ridden everything we wanted to ride, so we called it an early day and headed back to the hotel.

When Dayna, Keith, and the kids got back from Sea World, I found out that Keith had worn his hat on a roller coaster there, and, sure enough, he lost his hat! Unfortunately, they weren't able to recover his. I hope it wasn't his favorite.

Well, it's really late, so I'll have to finish up the synopsis another day. See you soon!

California Catch Up

I finally have a couple of minutes to start the summary of my Cali trip, so here goes.

Day One: The Flight & Finding the Hotel

The trip was originally planned for the whole family, but in the end, only half the family went. On Wednesday afternoon, the seven of us (Dayna, Keith, Jantz, Jade, Savannah, Mom, and I) boarded the plane. We flew in to Long Beach, collected our luggage, and rented our cars. By the time we finished with that, the sun was setting, and I just knew it was going to be fun trying to find our way to Buena Park in the dark. The sunset was beautiful though.

The beautiful sunset in Long Beach

I have never driven in the L.A. area before, and I was nervous about it. We had GPS in our rental car, so we entered the address into "Henrietta" and started for Buena Park. (My mom named the GPS Henrietta. I don't really know why.) I'm not entirely sure what happened, because it was really dark by that time, but I'm pretty sure we drove in circles and got on and off every major freeway in the area. I do not love California drivers! They are insane. And apparently if you want to change lanes in southern California, you should NOT use your turn signal. I found out the hard way that SoCal drivers interpret a turn signal to mean "please speed up, because I don't really want to move over, I'm just messing with you". Finally, we found our hotel, got checked in, and ran to In N Out Burger for a late dinner. After that, we all dropped into our beds, and didn't open our eyes until morning.

Day Two: Disneyland

We got up really early, because it was our "early entrance" day at Disneyland. As we were driving into the parking lot, we all got a good laugh at this sign...

Speed limit sign in the parking area at Disneyland

Really? Fourteen miles per hour? I guess they decided that a nice round 15 mph would cause too much damage in case of an accident.

Early entry is AWESOME! We were able to ride three rides in the 45 minutes we had before the park opened to the public. I can't remember all of the rides we rode, but we had a great time. Mom and Savannah aren't fond of roller coaster type rides, but we did talk them into going on most of the rides with us. Mom remembered that she loved Splash Mountain, but she insisted that she not be in the very front seat, so I got that one. When we got to the top of the big hill at the end, Mom decided that she wasn't sure she wanted to go down, but by then it was too late. I got soaked! Mom and the other people in our log got a little wet, but I seriously got soaked. We all rode the Matterhorn, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Buzz Lightyear, and most of us rode Indiana Jones. We went to the Haunted Mansion, which was decorated all in "The Nightmare Before Christmas". It was interesting to see the changes, but I really like it the original way better.

Jade, Jantz, Savannah, Mom, Dayna, and Keith in line for the Matterhorn

We also rode Pirates of the Caribbean five times because the line for the ride was less than five minutes for most of the day. That never happens. I tried to take some pictures on the ride, but since you can't use a flash, my pictures didn't turn out. I did get a picture of Savannah out front, but the camera has face recognition, so it focused on her and didn't show the fun pirate stuff in the background. Oh well. It's still a really cute picture!

Savannah in front of Pirates of the Caribbean

Gotta run to card night, so I'll finish the story later!

It's Cold Here!

Home from California today. 80 degrees in San Diego. 50 degrees here. Miss CA already. Too tired to post. Details later. Work tomorrow. Yuck!

The Rat Pack

This year I decided to splurge a little and buy season tickets to Broadway Across America. My decision was heavily influenced by the fact that "Wicked" is coming here next spring, and I wanted to ensure that I would be able to go without worrying about tickets selling out before I could get any. As it turns out, I will get to go twice!!! I can't wait.

But back to the present, or more accurately, the recent past. Last night was the first of our four "season" shows. On the drive to the theater, the effect of the sunset on the clouds of the coming storm was breathtaking. The picture doesn't really do it justice, but this is a hint of what it looked like:

The show was...

That's right, "The Rat Pack". Not the real Rat Pack, though. I would have had to make a trip to the "other side" for that. Although I'm sure the trip would be worth it!

The performers were pretty good, but they weren't nearly close enough to the real Frank, Dean, and Sammy to satisfy me. However, the show was entertaining, and the band was AMAZING!!!! I could have happily listened to the band for several more hours. I wanted to take a picture during the show, because the backdrop was cool, but I was afraid that if I did, my camera would be confiscated. Those theater people seem to frown on picture taking.

Ugh! Now I have to wait clear till February for our next show. At least I have a trip and some holidays to keep me distracted until then. The countdown is on!

A Little Late

I totally forgot about this until I was uploading pictures from my camera today. A couple of weeks ago, Heidi and I were on our way to Card Night, and when we walked out the back door, this is the sight that greeted us...

The YSA ward I used to be in was doing balloon rides for FHE. Heidi's friend Marian and her uncle did this for the ward last year, as well. It's kind of fun to find a hot air balloon in your back yard. As Heidi and I were driving away, we could see all of the neighbors out on their back porches watching the balloon, and a bunch of the neighborhood kids were running toward the park. I wonder if any of them managed to bum a ride.

The Worst is Over!

Yay!!! My teach-backs are over! They went much better today than they did on Tuesday. I'm pretty sure that had something to do with the fact that I had all evening to prepare yesterday, as opposed to the 20 minutes I had for Tuesday's. Whew. Only two days left, and tomorrow is in the swimming pool, so that can't be too bad, right?

Now I just have to wait and see if the instructors think I was good enough to become a full-on Instructor Trainer now, or if they are going to subject me to more torture and make me team teach the course for awhile. Fingers crossed!

I'm still alive...

but just barely! The last two weeks have been really intense. A few months ago, I decided that I didn't want to teach CPR and First Aid for my company anymore, because after being their only instructor in the county for the last five years, I am SUPER burned out. So, they decided two weeks ago that I should become an Instructor Trainer. That means I will be teaching people how to be CPR/FA Instructors. It is a good opportunity for me, but it seriously came at the very worst time! This is my busiest part of the month as far as work goes, so missing a whole week is not great, and I feel bad that I'm pushing my job responsibilities off on four co-workers. I have to teach primary this Sunday and have no time to prepare. And I'm trying to get ready for my California trip, on which I may be wearing one outfit the whole time since I don't have time to do laundry or pack!

You may have read my post about being an overachiever, so you might imagine how trying to do everything is practically killing me! Then, just for fun, throw this into the mix: I am a total perfectionist, and I don't sleep when I am stressed. Yep! It's been a really fun couple of weeks. And just in case you're wondering, I completely TANKED on my teach-back yesterday, and I have two more to do tomorrow. On a happier note, I just finished off a pint (of Ben & Jerry's, not an Irish pint) so I'm feeling a little better. And there are only three days left of the course, so I'm halfway through the training. I am so going to need that vacation! But I can do this, right? Yeah. Uh huh. Totally.

So You Think You Can Dance Tour 2008

Seriously. Best. Tuesday. Ever!

Last Tuesday, Mandy and I, along with Mandy's friend Katrina (who is now my friend, too!) had tickets to the SYTYCD Tour. Thanks to Mandy, we had third row seats, so we had an awesome view of the stage. It was at the E-Center, so we left early and went to The Country Store for dinner. (For those of you who don't know, that's the Cracker Barrel. Mom can never remember what it's called, so it has become The Country Store.) After dinner, we took a long walk across the parking lot to see the show. There are seriously no words to describe the fabulousness that was the show! All I can say is that I took 316 pictures of the show. Of course quite a few of them turned out blurry, but I did get some awesome shots. Click on the Smilebox below to see some pictures of the night.

When the show was over (after I had taken 316 pictures) we decided to hang out by the buses to wait for the dancers to come out. We stood out there for about an hour and a half before they came out, and just before they came out, my camera batteries died! So the only pictures we got of us with the dancers were taken with Katrina's cell phone, and they didn't turn out very well, but if she figures out how to e-mail them to me, I'll post them on here. Anyway, we got to meet all 13 of the dancers on tour, and had them autograph our tickets. Every single one of them was so nice, and it was so much fun...even if I got home at 2:00am and was a total zombie at work the next day.

I really, really hope the tour comes here next year again. I will definitely be going! Thanks Mandy and Katrina for a very fun night. (Let's do something fun again soon. Okay?)

A Little Peek...

at a Friday night in the life of a crazy primary teacher. Here's something that you probably don't know about me. Sometimes I can be a bit of an over-achiever. You see, I get an idea, and then it gets bigger and bigger and I can't reign myself in.

That is exactly what happened last Friday night. I knew that I wasn't going to have any time on Saturday to work on stuff for my primary lesson, so I had to have it all done on Friday night. My lesson was about tithing. (I would like to see one of the people involved in the writing of the Primary Manual try to teach the concept of one tenth to a bunch of four and five year olds.) As part of the lesson I was supposed to make a money box. The lesson said to use any box with a lid, write "to save or spend" on one side of the lid, and "tithing" on the other. Well, I decided to make it a little more cute. Then I got the brilliant idea to make smaller tithing boxes for each of the kids in my class. (See, this is the part where the idea starts getting bigger.) There are ten kids in my primary class.

I went to the craft store to pick up what I needed to make the boxes and I decided that I needed to make "boy boxes" and "girl boxes". (Oops, there it went getting bigger again!) I got home from the craft store around 8:00pm, started making dinner, and realized that the cashier at the craft store had failed to send my paper home with me. I couldn't make the boxes without the paper, so back I went. I got home the second time around 9:00pm, made and ate a quick dinner, and then I went to work on the boxes.

Of course they didn't turn out quite as cute as I imagined, but after all of that work, I was going to use them anyway. I finished the boxes around 1:30am, and went to bed. The sad part of this story is that I really enjoyed spending my Friday night making tithing boxes. Teaching the lesson on Sunday was tricky, but the kids seemed pretty excited about getting their very own tithing boxes to take home. I didn't get a picture of the boy boxes, but I did have my box and a couple of the girl boxes left over, so here is what they turned out like. If you would like a little tithing box, I've got a couple extra girl ones that I don't know what to do with now. :)

In Remembrance of 9/11...

And in honor of those who lost their lives, those who lived through it, those who did all they could to help those affected, and those who have done, and continue to do, all in their power to prevent it happening again. My thoughts are with you and your families.

I knew when I woke up this morning that I wanted to post something about this day, so I decided to post about what September 11, 2001 was like for me. (Warning: this will be a long post.)

September 11, 2001 started out like any other work day. I was in my bedroom putting the finishing touches on myself for work when the phone rang. It was just before eight in the morning. I heard my dad answer, and could tell he was talking to my grandpa. My dad said something like "oh no! You're kidding!" and I thought something bad had happened to a member of my family. After my dad hung up the phone, he yelled for me to come out to the family room. My dad was turning on the T.V. when I walked out and he told me that two planes had hit the World Trade Center in New York, and another plane had hit the Pentagon. I thought it was a weird coincidence that three small, private planes would hit three buildings in one morning, but then he told me that they were commercial airlines and were suspected terrorist attacks. We stood like statues in the middle of the room watching the smoking towers, and then I saw the first tower collapse. I started to cry and hoped that I was wrong about what I had just seen. I knew that I needed to leave for work, so I very reluctantly headed out to my car.

I was listening to coverage of the attacks on the radio during my drive, and found out that all airplanes (except military) had been grounded. I arrived at work (which at the time was at a flower shop) and immediately turned on the radio. They were playing recordings of people calling in to tell about how they narrowly escaped being at the WTC during the attack. I heard about people who missed their buses, couldn't find a cab, etc. The one that really stuck with me was one woman who called in and said that her son had thrown a fit about having a bologna sandwich in his sack lunch that day. She said that she normally would have made him take that sandwich anyway, but for some reason she backed down and made him peanut butter instead. The time that it took to do that caused her to miss her train, and that small incident prevented her being on one of the affected floors of the WTC.

I should note here that I was working just across the street from the air force base. I was used to hearing F-16s taking off and flying over head all day long, but that day the skies were eerily silent. That was by far the longest work day of my life. All I wanted was to be home with my family, and to hear what President Hinckley had to say about the situation. Traffic started to line up on the road out front of the shop, since it was on one of the main roads leading onto the base, and not only were they doing careful searches of each car coming on base, but several of the squadrons had been called and told to report for duty within two hours, fully prepared to deploy. Throughout the day, airmen came into the shop to order flowers for their wives/girlfriends for upcoming birthdays, Valentine's Day the following February, and Mothers' Day in May. We also had several couples come in and ask if there was any way we could do flowers for their weddings that were being moved up because one or the other of them was deploying. As sad as it was to hear those stories, I'm grateful for that experience because it made the military part of the event very real and personal for me.

At lunch time, I went home to eat and stare at the T.V. I will never forget driving past the base that day on my way home. I had lived near the base for most of my life, and had been on base quite a bit. I had never seen the hangar doors shut, and there were always planes lined up on the tarmac. On that Tuesday, all the hangars were closed up tight, there were no planes in sight, and I couldn't see any movement at all on the base. It literally looked like a ghost town.

After work, I went home, sat in front of the T.V., and cried for hours. I don't remember why Mom and Dad weren't home, or where they had gone, but being alone made it harder for me to deal with the whole day. Finally that evening, President Hinckley spoke and they televised it. I don't remember what he said, but I do remember that it was the first time I had felt any peace all day.

I also remember several times in the next few nights hearing F-16s taking off in the middle of the night. They don't take off at 2:00am very often, and it scared the life out of me each time it happened. I would jump right out of bed and go running out the front door to see if they were "scrambling" some threat within viewing distance. Only after watching the jets until they were out of sight, was I able to go back to bed.

The events of September 11th changed not only our country, but changed me as well. I have always been an extremely patriotic person, but my appreciation for this country and my freedom has skyrocketed since then. I don't ever want to forget what happened on 9/11. Thank you to all who protect our freedom, our country, and the rights of others!

P.S. I would love to hear what you were doing on 9/11 and how it affected you. E-mail me or post a comment here if you wouldn't mind sharing. Thanks!

Summer Is Over

Sad but true. At least I sent it out with a bang! I haven't blogged for a month because I have been so busy. Here's a quick rundown of what I've been up to:

Education Week: Every year Mom, Dayna, Mandy and I take a week off of work and go to Education Week at BYU. We attend classes during the day, and at night we go out to dinner, go shopping, get pedicures, etc. As usual, the entire week was punctuated with laughter! Unfortunately, we were so busy that I only managed to get one picture during the entire week. Mandy and I usually finish classes around 3:00pm, and Mom and Dayna usually go until 5:30pm, so Mandy and I hang out by the bowling alley and read or play games. Mandy and I played a game of chicken foot, and I totally whooped Mandy. Check out that score!!!

That's right...one hundred eleven to zero.

Dance Recital: Breklin had her summer dance recital on the Saturday after Ed Week, so I headed up for that. It was very short, which was kind of nice, since it was held at an aquatic center, and our tickets included swimming. Breklin's dance was to the song "Jump" by the Pointer Sisters. It was a really cute dance, and the most fun thing about it for me, was that I had done a clogging dance to that same song when I was about eight. I was singing along during her dance, but quietly, so only Dayna could hear.

Grandpa's Birthday/Family Reunion: At the end of August, my grandpa (on my dad's side) had his 88th birthday, so to celebrate, a couple of my aunts planned a party/family reunion in Idaho Falls over Labor Day weekend. We left on Saturday morning and headed up to the park. I had such a great time at the party. I got to see cousins and aunts and uncles that I haven't seen for about eight years, and I also got to meet some of my cousins' kids that I hadn't seen in real life before. I was so busy playing and visiting that I forgot to take any pictures. (The frequency of my picture taking could rival the frequency of my journal writing these days!)

My immediate family stayed for the whole weekend. Our hotel rooms had little private balconies that overlooked the Idaho Falls Temple. What a beautiful view to start and end each day with! On Saturday night, there were fireworks across the river (near the temple), which made me really happy since they were the first actual fireworks I have seen all year! I even managed to get a pretty decent picture of the finale.

I spent Sunday morning trying to help Mandy comfort poor Kambrie, who had gotten sick. We even ended up taking her to a doctor there, and found out that she had an ear infection. She was so sad and lethargic while we were waiting for her prescription to be filled (could have had something to do with her 103+ fever). I was sitting on a bench holding her when she said "My...sick." in a very sad little voice. It about broke my heart! Luckily, after giving her some medicine she perked back up. Sunday afternoon got really stormy, so we just stayed inside at the hotel and went swimming for a little bit.

I took this picture at sunset after the storm. I love the colors!

On Monday morning, Mom, Mandy, and I took Breklin and Kambrie to bear world. It was really fun to see how excited they were about all of the animals. A couple of the bears got really close to our car, and one almost backed right into the side of the car!

Misty, Breklin, and Kambrie on a ride at Bear World.

After Bear World, we stopped by Grandma and Grandpa's house for one last little visit, and then we headed home. I was driving one car with Mandy and the girls, and my parents were following us in another car. On the drive home, we were listening to the "Newsies" soundtrack, and Breklin decided she liked one of the songs so much that we had to listen to it over and over again. She and Kambrie were even dancing to the song in their car seats. Mandy got it on video and it is hilarious. And it made the long drive home pretty entertaining. I was laughing so hard I thought I might get pulled over for drunk driving. Thank goodness all of the Highway Patrolmen we saw (and there were a lot of them) were already occupied by other drivers!

Thanks for reading this very long post. I think you are caught up for now...I'll keep you posted. (Pun intended.)

Lagoon

Thursday was Lagoon Day for Mandy's work, so I took the day off and went to meet some of my family for a day of fun. It started out being REALLY hot, but just as we were going down Rattlesnake Rapids (or Rattlesnake Rabbits as Breklin calls it), the clouds rolled in and cooled us off.

We started out riding some kiddie rides with the girls, then when Mom got there we went to eat lunch, and then we rode the water rides. After we were completely soaked, we had some ice cream. Then, since Kambrie could barely keep her eyes open, Erik took her home. Mandy and I rode Wicked for the first time. I'll admit it...I was terrified. I kept telling Mandy that I might wet my pants. (I didn't, I promise!) After that, we headed to a family favorite, the Tilt-A-Whirl. The four of us giggled and laughed both times. The first time it was because we were spinning so much, and the second time it was because our car wouldn't spin at all! Honestly. It only made one complete rotation the entire ride!

I thought that the Rapids were going to be Breklin's favorite ride of the day, but that was before we put her in the car so she could "drive". She couldn't get enough of that and she was very serious about it. She couldn't wait to tell Grandpa that the cars were her favorite (any cars are his favorite).

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Thanks, Mandy for letting me spend a fun day with your family at "the goon".

Catching Up

Augh! I am so behind, but I am going to try to catch up. Last Friday (Aug. 1) I was able to go to the Capitol Theater in SLC to see High School Musical. Heidi and some friends had season tickets to Broadway Across America this year, and HSM was the final show. Our friend, Betsy, was stuck in Boston, and couldn't make it, so she generously offered me her ticket. We had a good time, despite some difficulty being able to see the stage. The theater doesn't have stadium seating, so the seats are offset so you have the window between the heads of the patrons in front of you to see. The man in front of Heidi and me didn't understand how that concept works. He was either leaning away from his wife (in Heidi's way) or putting his arm around his wife and leaning close to her (blocking my view). After intermission, we were able to slide down a couple of seats and MIRACLE...we could see the rest of the show!

From there we went straight to Borders for the "Breaking Dawn" release party. We got there late (around 11:00pm) so we missed the games, debates, etc. We did, however, get our fill of screaming 14 year old girls! Here is all I'm going to say about BD: It was okay. Definitely different from the other three books, and my least favorite of the series, but it was an entertaining read.

Saturday would have been Grandpa O's 93rd birthday, so we remembered him by going to see his gravesite for the first time since his funeral. Then we went to his house and ate Rootbeer Floats (one of Grandpa's favorites), looked at pictures, and shared memories. I got teary-eyed a few times, but for the most part, it was a good day.

Here I am, sitting with Grandpa for a minute.

Thank You, Pioneers!

Thanks for finding this beautiful state for me to live in, and thanks for being the inspiration for an extra holiday. :)

I know this is really late, but here is a breakdown of my holiday weekend.

Wednesday: Mandy's husband, Erik, took their daughter, Breklin to Bear Lake for the holiday weekend with his family, and Mandy stayed home to play with our family. Since Mandy doesn't like to be home alone, I stayed with her from Wednesday evening until Sunday morning. On Wednesday, Mandy, Kambrie, Mom and I went to the Ogden Pioneer Days Rodeo (a yearly tradition). It was pretty hot outside, but we had a great time.

Thursday: Mandy had to work, so I spent some quality time with Kambrie, then the four of us girls went shopping. After shopping, we went to Dayna's house for a barbecue. No surprise, we had a great time making fun of each other and laughing ourselves sick!

Friday: Mandy worked again, so Kambrie and I played and then Mom came to play with us for a little while after she got off work. Mandy and I decided to go to a dollar movie, so we had my niece Jade come babysit Kambrie, and we went to see "What Happens In Vegas". I love that movie, it's so funny! Mom, Dayna, Keith, and Savannah went to SLC to the Osmond's Pioneer Day Concert, so Mandy and I had planned to go roast hot dogs and marshmallows with my dad. Jantz and Jade were supposed to go out with friends, but their plans fell through, so they came with us. We ate, had ghost stories, and did some little fireworks. We had so much fun, and although I feel bad that Jantz and Jade were stuck with us "old folks" instead of their friends, I was really glad they came with us. Mandy and I regaled them with tales of our craziness growing up, and the four of us were laughing hysterically all the way home.

Saturday: Mandy and I just hung around the house playing Guitar Hero and laughing at ourselves. Then we went out to dinner with Mom and Dad and then hung out at their house for awhile.

One of the best parts of my whole weekend, was getting to spend some one on one time with Kambrie. She and I don't get much alone time, since usually Breklin is there, too. All weekend, Kambrie kept walking up to me and saying "Hode me, Mish". (Hold me, Mist) Well, I can never say no to that, so I got lots of hugs and cuddles, and some very strong muscles during the weekend. It was great!!!

My Life in Six Words

I got tagged by Amelia to describe my life right now in six words. Here goes:

1. Breaking
2. Dawn
3. Work
4. Tired
5. Happy
6. Crazy

Okay, now I get to tag five of you! Let's see...Heidi, Mandy, Randi, Cassity, Lindsay.
All right, girls. Get to it!

Feeling Like A Loser!

Okay, people...seriously? Millie is the only one with memories of me? Are you all repressing your memories of me or am I that unmemorable? I've seen this little game on several blogs, and everyone else has like 16 comments. I'm starting to feel a little dumb. (And I'm trying to guilt some of you into leaving memories. Is it working?)

Memories

Here is a fun little game...Leave a comment on my blog of a memory that you and I have had together. It doesn't matter if you've known me for a short time, or a long time, anything you remember! Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.On your mark...get set...blog your memories!!

(Thanks Amelia...this is a fun idea!)

Remember To Say Thank You

It was my week to teach the primary lesson, and today the lesson was "Remember To Say Thank You". It was all about how important it is to be thankful, and to say thank you to those who help us or do something nice for us. I brought cardstock, crayons, and stickers, and let the kids write thank you notes to someone, and they had a great time coloring pictures and writing thank you to their parents, siblings, etc.

As part of the lesson, I had written a note to each member of my class, thanking them for the things I see them do in primary, and thanking them for being in my class. I gave them the notes at the end of class to take home (I didn't want them opened in class because I had written something different to each child, and I didn't want any hurt feelings).

This evening, I was in my room reading a book, when I heard a knock at the front door. Heidi answered it and called me down. There on the porch was one of the boys in my class with his family. He was standing there holding a plate of cookies, and a note he had written to me. The note says "Thank you. I love you. Love, Scott" and it has pictures of cookies on it. His mom explained to me that she read him the note from me after church, and as soon as she finished he went right over and started drawing me a picture. His dad told me that he drew the cookies on the note and then wanted to make some cookies for me. It was all Scott's idea. What a cutie!

It was so sweet and completely made my day! I am going to hang Scott's note up on my wall to remind me that these sweet little children are listening and learning even when it isn't immediately apparent.

Horseback Riding with the Nieces

There used to be two horse lovers in my family. Now there are four! My niece Savannah, who is twelve, and my niece Breklin who is four are just as obsessed about horses as Aunt Janet and I are. So on Saturday, Mandy and my mom brought the girls down to the barn to ride Cody, my Aunt Janet's horse. Savannah rode Cody once a few years ago, and she has just started taking riding lessons, so it was fun for me to give her pointers, and work with her on having the correct posture, foot position, etc. We even got her trotting and loping a couple of times. Savannah did great! Her posture was awesome, and she stayed calm even when Cody decided to go faster than she was ready for.

Me, Savannah, and Cody working on Savannah's riding technique.

Saturday was Breklin's first time being on a horse, and she was so brave! She was calm and smiling the whole time, and she kept leaning forward to pat Cody's neck while she rode. I think somehow Mandy has ended up with a mini-Misty on her hands. Breklin loves to dance, loves horses, and is very stubborn. Yep. Definitely my mini-me! Sorry, Mandy!!!

Breklin on Cody for the first time by herself.

I think she enjoyed it. What do you think?

After a little persuasion, I even talked Mandy into getting on the horse with Breklin for a short ride. Mandy was nervous, but she did great! Even my mom was very brave. Cody was right up by her multiple times during the day, and she was cool as a cucumber...at least on the outside. I haven't asked her how she really felt about it yet.

Mandy and Breklin on Cody. Don't they both look like naturals?

I was completely hammered by the time I got home. Nothing like five or so hours of walking around to tire you out, not to mention helping people onto and off of the horse, hauling saddles, etc. I wouldn't trade any of the work, though. I love it! I find it relaxing and rewarding. It was definitely one of the best Saturdays I can think of. Thank you, Aunt Janet, for being so willing to share Cody with us, and for being so sweet about sitting in the heat for hours on end just so we can have a good time. WE LOVE YOU!!!!

4th of July

The 4th of July started with Breklin's first parade. She was on a "float" with her dance team, and she loved it! It was fun to see her in the parade, even if we did have to walk about two miles to pick her up at the end.

Breklin is the cute little red-head holding a flag by her face

After the parade, we headed to Dayna's house to celebrate Savannah's and Kambrie's birthdays. They were born on the same day, just ten years apart. On the way into the house, Breklin and I were having a little power struggle. When I asked if she was going to walk up the stairs, or if I was going to have to drag her up them, she responded by saying, "Fine. But you can't come to my birthday party, and YOU'RE ON MY LIST!" She picks up the funniest things. (A little side note: Breklin's birthday isn't until January. When I pointed that out, she assured me that she would remember that I can't come to the party.) At the party, we had a delicious lunch, watched the girls open their presents, and then we had birthday cake.

The birthday girls with their cake (and Mandy hiding behind them)

We played games until 9:00 or so, then Mom, Dad, and I roasted hotdogs and marshmallows over the fire pit in Mom and Dad's back yard, and I read them some ghost stories from places we have visited in Montana. It was a fun holiday, but we didn't get to see any big fireworks (although we could hear them). Hopefully we'll get to see some for the 24th.

Sometimes It's the Little Things

Do you ever have those days where you feel really alone, even if you're with other people? Well I was having one of those at church today. Because I arrived at church earlier than usual, I ended up sitting by myself in the middle of a row in the back. A couple of people came in and sat at both ends of the row, but I didn't know them. Normally, I don't mind going to church alone, and sitting by myself, but today I was feeling a bit sad about it. After sitting there for an hour watching all of the people who weren't sitting alone, I started toward the Primary Room.

As I was walking down the hall, still feeling lonely, I realized that there was someone walking near me. I turned to see a member of my ward, whom I have spoken to a few times, but I don't know him very well. Anyway, he greeted me with a smile, and asked why he hasn't seen me for awhile. (Don't worry...I still go to church, I've just been cloistered in primary.) Then as we were going our separate ways, he patted me on the back, and told me it was good to see me. Such a little thing for him to go out of his way to say hi, and yet with that small act of kindness, he left me feeling a lot less alone today.

Our primary lesson was about gratitude, and today I am grateful for someone who said hi.

Day Eight: Goodbye Montana

We left Montana today with heavy hearts, and hopeful plans for our next visit. On our way out of the state, we stopped at one of our favorite places, the Yesterday's Cafe in Dell, MT. It is an old one-room schoolhouse that has been converted into a cafe with fabulous home cooking. After an early lunch, we headed for Idaho.

The amazing view as we were driving out of Montana. It gets harder and harder for me to leave!

I wanted to stop in Rexburg, ID on our way to Idaho falls to see the Teton Flood Museum. I was born on the day the Teton Dam broke. Although I was not in Idaho at the time, I had family that were living in Rexburg and were greatly affected by the flood. I have been really interested in learning about the flood for the last several months, and was excited to stop at the museum. Mom and Dad had been there before, but it was my first time. We watched a short movie about the dam breaking, with actual video footage from that day. It was really interesting and sad to hear the first hand accounts. I was disappointed to see that only a small corner of the museum actually holds any flood information/memorabilia. Mom said they used to have a lot more stuff, so I'm not sure why it's so small now. At any rate, it was interesting to see, and not a wasted trip.

Me standing outside the museum.

After seeing the museum, we left for Idaho Falls. Mom hastily decided she wanted to stop at Yellowstone's Bear World. (I mean hastily, too! I was at the turn-off when she decided she wanted to go.) We had stopped there last year on our way home from Montana, and it was fun to be so near the bears, even though you have to stay in your car with the windows rolled up. (Unless you take the curator's tour and get to feed the bears from the top of a tall truck.)

Some of the bears waiting for food to be thrown to them. Check out the bear on the far right standing up straight.

It has been a really fun trip, and I hate to see it end! One more day...

Day Seven: Deer Lodge

On Thursday, we left Missoula and headed to Dillon to start our journey home. About halfway between Missoula and Dillon, we stopped in Deer Lodge to tour the Old Montana Prison. We had stopped there once before when I was eleven or twelve, but didn't tour the prison. I had forgotten all about it, until I was listening to the Ghost Investigators of Utah on the radio last Halloween. They were telling experiences they have had, and playing EVPs. It was really creepy! Then they started talking about one of the scariest EVPs they've had and it was from the Old Montana Prison in Deer Lodge. Well, right then and there I decided that we would be taking that tour on this trip.

The prison was built mostly by inmate labor, and was opened for "business" in July of 1871. Believe it or not, it was in operation until 1979. Wild, huh?






This is one of the corner turrets where the guards stood watch.















This is the main cell house, built in 1912.









There are many areas of the prison compound that are reportedly haunted. One of the areas is around the cell of "Turkey Pete". He was convicted of murder, and lost it while he was in prison. The guards indulged his ideas, because it was easier that way, and he didn't cause any trouble for them. He had checks printed up at the prison, and he "purchased" the prison. He even wrote checks to the guards and staff to pay their wages!



This is a picture I took of Turkey Pete's cell. I can't explain the bluish haze in the lower left section. It was not showing on the screen when I took the picture.











The EVP I heard on the radio was from "The Hole", which was solitary confinement. I can't remember it exactly now, but it was a really scary voice saying something like "get out".




This is outside one of the solitary confinement cells in "The Hole". Notice the white glow at the top of the door. There was nothing in there to reflect the light, so I'm not sure where it came from...you decide!








The last part of our self-guided tour was the W.A. Clark Theater. It was built in 1919, and was gutted by fire in 1975. The fire was set deliberately, presumably to cover up evidence of a murder in there, but no charges were ever filed. The "haunting" story about this building is that sometimes guests smell the acrid odor of smoke and charred wood so overwhelming that their eyes water and they have to leave the building. This is odd considering the fire was over 30 years ago. I was in the theater by myself and when I was in the center of the room, I definitely caught a smoke/fire smell. It wasn't super strong, but it was noticeable.



This is me standing outside the theater. (In case you can't tell, I'm the little white dot in the center of the picture.)